ii Desmaresfs l Geographic Physique ' 73 



His voluminous reports on the various industries of France 

 show how actively and zealously he laboured in his 

 official harness. But perhaps the best proof of his inde- 

 fatigable industry was his colossal Geographic Physique, 

 which he undertook as part of the famous Encyclopedic 

 Mtithodique founded by Diderot and D'Alembert. The 

 exhaustive treatment of his subject may be inferred from 

 the fact that after devoting to it four massive quarto volumes 

 of from 700 to 900 pages each, he had only got to the 

 letter N when death closed his labours. 



The first volume of this great work is in many respects 

 the most interesting. The author in his preface tells how 

 he means to exclude from his task all discussion of 

 theories of the earth, for, as he frankly confesses, he had 

 long looked upon these theories as utterly opposed to the 

 principles of Physical Geography. But on second thoughts, 

 as unfortunately such theories really existed, having much 

 the same relation to Physical Geography that fable bears 

 to history, he had resolved to give a summary of the 

 subject, thus conforming to the practice of some writers 

 who begin their histories with a brief mention of the 

 heroic times. 1 Accordingly he devotes the first volume 

 to notices of the more important authors who had treated 

 of his subject, excluding those who were still alive. He 

 made, however, exceptions to this exclusion in favour of 

 Pallas and Hutton. Though he undertook to present 

 merely an impartial summary of the opinions of other 

 writers, it is instructive to have these summaries from the 

 hand of a man like Desmarest, who was contemporary 

 with many of those of whom he discourses. The inter- 



1 Geographic Physique, vol. i. (1794), preface. 



